Once In A Great While
by stancessecondglances
Summary: Emma is a field agent for the FBI who has sent her to investigate the "magical" sudden appearance of a quiet New England town. I suuuck at summarizing, but this will be SwanQueen and henry is about five yrs :)
1. PROLOGUE

_**Hey there, im sorry for the chapter change. I wasn't quite happy with the epilogue so I changed it to this one. its the same story nothing has changed, but I decided to do this differently. This one is more to my liking. pluuuuus.. I was actually awake when I typed it up. YAY! alright well here goes nothing. enjoy. P.S. next time ill proof read before I update, so you guys aren't confused. :) P.P.S. I write to the greatest hits of Fleetwood Mac.**_

_**:EPILOGUE:**_

_**\(..)/**_

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_**Agent Swan sat at her desk a quarter past ten, and no matter how diligently she worked, the towers of paper work that surrounded her never seamed to shrink. Her eyes began to hurt, and there was a throbbing ache in her lower back from the lack of lumbar support. Those old rickety office chairs were more of a health hazard than her job. Emma stood slowly, popping her neck and stretching her arms this way and that. '**_**time to go.' ****_she thought, and almost immediately a heavy grumbling sound came from her stomach in agreement. '_****good idea. Food first, then home.' ****_she thought, and switched off her computer. Most of the lights on her side of head quarters were out and everyone, but the janitors had gone home for the weekend. Agent Swan had stayed; however, so she could catch up on some paperwork that she needed to finish going over before her three week vacation started. The thought of three weeks of having nothing to do, but whatever she deemed necessary thrilled her to no end. She would sit around in her underwear, and sleep in till noon, and maybe even go out to eat. to a restaurant. Emma had never been an avid reader, but she might even pick up a book._**

**_On her way out of the office, Emma Grabbed her red leather jacket. The halls were empty, and it was pleasant to just walk the halls alone. no where to be. No one to impress, and for that reason, Emma put in her headphones as she moseyed down to the elevator. she bobbed her head to the beat of her music, and reached her arm out to press the down button. A large hand suddenly grabbed the young woman's shoulder. Emma spun, and slapped the hand away from her, then brought up a threatening fist to the assailant. It took a heartbeat for Emma's eyes to focus in the dimly lit hallway, but when they did she dropped her fists and pulled her headphones out._**

**_"sir?.. I'm so sorry!" she exhaled, and stood up straighter when she noticed that this man was none other than the Director himself._**

**_The Tall man before Emma straightened out his coat. "Swan, I thought you would've been long gone by now. catching up on some lost hours of sleep no doubt, yet here you are."_**

**_"I was on my way out, I just had to finish up a few things.. uh Sir." Emma said with an exhausted huff._**

**_"sure, sure. I understand." He waved off the explanation. "you are; however, the exact person I hoped to see. Come, I have a mission I want to discuss with you.."_**

**_Emma opened her mouth to protest, but the sound of the elevator ding brought her attention back to her only means of escape into the vacation she longed for. Her eyes darted back, and forth between the Director's retreating form, and the open elevator door. This was her chance to go, she could leave and pretend that he didn't hear him. She could be in her nice warm bed in less than fifteen minutes. Then there was the option of a new mission. The chance she had been waiting for since her accident. no more paperwork. actual field work, again. _**

**_Emma pinched the bridge of her nose, and turned her back on the elevator. She jogged after Director Murdock, and turned her back on the normal life she was never destined for._**


	2. Chapter 2

Emma leaned against her canary yellow bug, and sifted through the Folder that her director had given her. The first few pages were accompanied by pictures, and they depicted a sleepy little one stoplight town. Nature was abundant in the back ground, and also a beach. If Emma swan hadn't known any better she could have mistaken the FBI file for the brochure of some tourist destination where people got out of their big city fast pace lives to enjoy a weekend of peace. The next few pages were about the businesses,, and who ran them. They also had a Mayor. A few snap shots of her had been taken._ obviously while she wasn't looking_. She was young. Almost too young for Emma to believe that she ran the town of.. _what was it?_ **Storybrooke.** The papers had the addresses of every citizen, and there was copies of land deeds among other useless papers. A carhop come over to the Agent to deliver her burger and shake, to which The older woman thanked her, then she commented on her car. Told her it was a '_sweet ride'_. If only people knew the irony behind the German made vehicle. She was a person of the law. Swore an oath to "protect and serve", and all that jazz, yet this car was the crime she had gotten away with.

About an hour had passed since her stop at the drive through, and agent Swan figured she was making great time. She inhaled the last of her cold French fries, and turned up the heat. The Volkswagen was a tiny spec of yellow in the vast expansion of trees, which were magnificently large, with their wide trunks, and their leaves nearly covered the road in a canopy. At approximately three point four miles, Emma turned. This road was even more narrow than the one before that. Any mistake on navigation was hers alone to blame, because the GPS she had been using wouldn't take her to any town by the name of Storybrooke. The decision was made that she would get off the road as close a she could get with the directions in the folder, then just go where there wasn't a sign. Seemed legit. The blonde woman shivered once more. She felt around at the vets, and fumbled with the air controls before giving a loud sigh. **Damn**. her heater had quite working who knows how long ago. As much as she loved her car it was a total piece of crap. The sun was setting, so the light from the sun wasn't coming to her rescue. Emma prayed that her care wouldn't malfunction anymore, but she knew that was wishful thinking. The best she could hope for was that her head lights would stay on.

"..Please, c'mon.. I need you to take me just a little further.. I feel like we're almost there." Emma whispered. Then, as if her wish was heard by some unseen force, a glorious sight filled Emma's vision, and with audible excitement she spoke.

"{WELCOME TO STORYBROOKE}"

Emma recalled seeing something about an Inn, and a diner. That would be her first two stops. without question. She fumbled around in the seat next to her, and looked through the pictures. She wanted a mental picture for this. She imagined, that asking around for directions would be a sure fire way to get her some unwanted attention, and tonight was not the night for such drama. Emma, being a kid in the system, knew that a stranger coming into a tight knit place, such as a small town, was a touchy situation to navigate. So for such a task sleep was in order. Emma brought the pictures up, and studied one that must have been the diner, because the note at the bottom of the polaroid stated as such. Emma took her eyes from the photo just as she was entering town. It sure was quiet. There wasn't much street activity, so She took that as a good thing. At least it would make her night less troublesome.

The car was fried. Done. When she pulled up to park in front of Granny's Diner, it coasted into parallel parking position. She sat there for a long time it felt. Just thinking. Wondering how she had gotten wrangled into driving four hours to a town she had never heard of, and had packed all her wardrobe to start a recon mission that she would need to get a job, find a place to live, and act under a false identity. Her name got to remain the same under her orders, but any, and everything else about her past, her current life, and future were all planned by the government, and packed into her suitcase. Emma had wanted this so badly. Wanted to rejoin the field team. Get down and dirty with the others of her rank, and that was how it should have been. This had to be one of the easiest things the bureau had asked of her since she first started basic training, and the fact that she found herself hesitant about even getting out of her car proved that she wasn't ready.

Agent Swan rested her head on the wheel and closed her eyes. She had thought about just sleeping in her car, but that's all it lived to be. A thought, because not a second longer after she thought it did a knock sound from her driver side window. It made Emma jump, and reach for her gun but remembered that it was in the glove compartment.

"hey? You alright?.." A voice came. It was muffled by the window, and when Emma looked up she was greeted by kind dark eyes and a wide toothy grin. She was a tall brunette with a mini skirt and a faux fur jacket. She waved at the tired Emma.

"Hi! Name's Ruby!" she said and extended a hand through the now open window. "..,and welcome to Storybrooke...Uh?"

"Emma.." The blonde smiled a tired smile. which did not go unnoticed by the lanky girl.

"Listen, Emma if you need a place to stay, I can ring you up in the diner while you grab a bite? Granny will be tickled pink that there will be an actual customer staying in the B&B..." Ruby said. Emma pondered her words. She was actually just surprised there was an actual Granny, and it wasn't just a cute little name to give a bed and breakfast, or a diner. She stepped out of the car to stand in front of the girl. After popping her back several times she rested her thumbs in her belt loops with a happy sigh.

"That sounds nice Ruby, thank you."

Emma followed the girl inside and was met with only a couple strange stares, but was thankful when they took their attention elsewhere. Granny was a charming lady. A spit fire, Emma could tell. It took almost no time for Ruby to return to the bar with a burger, and a hot cocoa to warm the new stranger's hands. There was a feeling that the agent couldn't shake. A feeling of normalcy, that probably stemmed from the hospitality, and though Emma had a way with gut feelings, she decided this one could be dropped for the time being. She was not going to ever question the feeling of belonging.

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**_Hey there, so I write at night. thought I should throw that out there. I'm a night writer. lol. I also wanted to say that if anyone had any ideas, comments, problems with the story don't hesitate to tell me. I will appreciate any kind of feedback :p_**


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